Acts of Valor
by LesterWanted
Summary: Stephanie makes some major changes in her life, but what happens when the man she has come to love is sent off on one last mission? Amongst the drama, hate, laughter lies a story waiting to be told. Not Morelli nor Helen friendly! Rated M just in case :)
1. Chapter 1

AN – My holiday free time led me to this! All mistakes are mine as there is no beta. Feel free to step up and take the job, I would love some help. I'm a college student with free time and a love for writing and JE books! 3 (Keep in mind I am an AgBusiness major, not an English student, so my grammer sucks!)

Disclaimer – Everything you recognize belongs to the brilliant mind of Janet Evanovich

Acts of Valor

I sat down on the side walk next to the burning hunk of twisted metal that was my latest POS car. For the third time in as many months I felt the heat from the scorching metal pulsing against my skin through the fabric of my shirt. My clothes were torn my face and any other exposed body part was covered in grime and soot and to top it all off I had lost my 243rd pair of handcuffs.

My name is Stephanie Plum and I am a bounty hunter for my weasel of a cousin Vinny. I live in an average apartment in an average part of Trenton. I am currently on the outs with my on and off boyfriend Joe Morelli, who has the best ass in Trenton and is known as Officer Hottie if you talk to my best friend Lula. Nevertheless, there is Ranger, security extraordinaire, Cuban sex god, my one time lover, my mentor and my best friend (if you could call it that).

As I sat there thinking about what could have happened had I been in the car and how Joe was going to yell, Carl and Big Dog would laugh at my expense and Ranger . . . Well for the first time in my life I didn't know what Ranger would say. He might slide his patented blank face into place and say "Babe". He might also quirk his left eyebrow and try not to laugh.

The stupid thing was no matter how hard I tried to focus, something Lester said to me when we were talking about intimidation kept replaying in my head over and over again. I had asked him, one day while we were eating pizza after a take down at Shorty's how he kept his calm before he went on a takedown or a mission. He looked at me popped his trademark smile and repeated for me three times.

Though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I shall fear no evil;

For I am the BIGGEST, BADDEST, MOTHER FUCKER in the valley.

But I was not big bad wolf like Lester, Ranger Tank or any of the other Merry Men and the brave and honorable men who serve our county are. Hell I am more like the little timid mouse running from shadow to shadow trying to avoid detection. I can't stand up for myself, I can't defend myself from my mother's constant scrutiny and I certainly can't protect myself. As much as I tell myself that I can provide for myself, protect myself or defend myself. Sitting here on the cold sidewalk with the sirens growing ever louder as they approached, I realized. If I didn't shape up right here right now I never would.

It was if I had been hit in the forehead with a two by four. Holy Shit, I had ever resource available to me to become a better Bond Enforcement Agent (who I am kidding that sounds way to professional), bounty hunter, a better person, a better fighter. Shit I had a whole building full of guys who spent over 6 years of their life doing shit harder than this for a living. I had access . . .

My train of thought was interrupted when I lost my view of the street and was treated to an eyeful of worn out boots covered in blue jeans that were starting to fray at the edges. 'Well Fuck'

"Care to explain Cupcake?" Joe spat out at me.

"No not really Joe." And in all honesty I didn't want to tell anyone what had happened today. I have the biggest streak of bad luck on cars. I swear some Old Cajun Witch Doctor put some Voo Doo curse on me or something. I didn't want anyone to know how stupid this time had been. But there was a small niggling in the back of my mind "You'll tell Ranger though, and the Merry Men. Don't forget Lester, you will definitely tell Les."

'Shut up, you are not wanted' Oh so I can stand up to the voice in my head but not to anyone else in my life. Wait Lester, when the hell did Lester get into this?

Before I could figure that out Joe started in on his fabled Italian temper tantrum "Stephanie Plum, who did you piss off this time. Are you really so stupid you would piss someone off enough to make them blow up your car. You are a shitty bounty hunter anyways, why don't you just up and quit. Hell you're too insufficient to do your job properly anyways, let alone be classified as a real BEA. Damnit Steph why can't you see that and just give up already? I let you have your fun and I put up with it for a while but in the end you're gonna come home with me and give up the preconceived notions you have about keeping your job. Hell with my new salary you won't even need a job beyond staying home and taking care of my kids." Joe was flailing his arms around and his face was an ungodly shade of red. By this time all the emergency vehicles were here, I spotted Carl and Big Dog exchanging money again, and on the fringe I noticed two RangeMan SUV's and Ranger's new Audi R8, black of course.

Joe was still ranting when I refocused. "Stephanie you are my woman, I had you first and I will have you last. You are mine, now you come home with me and we are going to straighten this shit out right now. There will be no more embarrassing me in front of the entire neighborhood, you are going to marry me and have my children and you will be happy about it." He reached down and forcefully grabbed my arm and jerked me off the ground and towards his truck. Joe had lost his top, I needed to get out before I got in too far and I couldn't get back out. I needed to get away fast. Ranger, I needed Ranger and his Merry Men. Joe had let his grasp loosen because I had been following him without a fight, he thought he had won.

I turned to look at Ranger his face a mask of pure rage and hatred, at what I didn't know. His eyes connected with mine and I mouthed "HELP ME!" In those brief 2 seconds Lester opened the passenger side of Ranger's Audi, Ranger got behind the wheel and started the 8 cylinder performance engine and Bobby and Tank started walking towards Joe and I.

My worst nightmare had come to life. I had released the Morelli Family curse in Joe. I had finally pushed him too far. Ranger was who I needed to get me out of this, Ranger, Lester Tank and Bobby would see me through this I know they would. They would see me through anything. Tank and Bobby were within 25 feet of us now and I knew my time was up three more steps and Joe would put me in his truck and drive me away forever. I couldn't let him put me in that truck I had to get loose. My thoughts took me only a second to process, I took one last look at Joe and saw his mask of pure and unadultered rage and it was directed at me. It scared the shit out of me. That was all it took. I planted my right foot and jerked my arm away while I was pushing off.

I had done sprinting in high school. I was not a star athlete by any means but it would be enough to push me through the 25 feet to Tank and bobby before Joe got to me. From there I would be home free, Tank and Bobby would form a wall to stop Joe and ensure that I got to Ranger successfully. I was running my feet pounding the asphalt between me and Ranger. I blew past Tank and Bobby without a pause I was flying.

I was never this fast in high school. I was never this fast EVER. I could vaguely here Joe yelling in the background as I pounder farther away from the chaos. My breath was coming in short gasps and the pain in my side was getting sharper. The muscles in my legs and hips were starting to burn. The Audi was within my reach when two strong arms wrapped around my torso and picked me off the ground.

I was jerked around my ribs. The first thought running through my head was that Tank and Bobby had failed. So I started throwing what little weight I had around. Kicking and screaming, flailing my arms and legs about. Until I heard "Beautiful" loud and clear in my ear. It was Lester, he had picked me up and was now shoving me into the Audi with what seemed like practiced precision. He placed a feather light kiss on my forehead, followed by a slamming door and the sound of Ranger laying down rubber on the asphalt as the performance hemi raced to put distance between us and the scene of the crime.

I broke down as soon as the distinct smell of pristine and custom leather interior mixed with a scent that was strangely not Ranger, but Lester. The unmistakable smell of expensive Jag; Ladies Man . The smell triggered my tears and the sobs and I broke down into a jagged crying spell that left me breathless with mascara running down my face in what was sure to be a wave of black, my nose was probably red and runny and I couldn't control my tear ducts. Ranger had put his hand on my thigh and was offering me what was supposed to be a subtle comforting gesture. He was rubbing his thumb in small circles on my thigh and gave me a light squeeze ever now and then to let me know that he was there for me. But I didn't want it, I wanted it to be Lester in the seat next to me. This was his car after all, he should be the one driving it.

When I had calmed myself down, I noticed we were headed out of Trenton, I also had a chance to look at the speedometer . . . That was a bad idea. Ranger was driving way WAY too fast. I was surprised the needle wasn't in the red. Hell who was I kidding this was an Audi there was no red. I thought back to the way Bobby talked about this car. I vaguely remembered that Lester had bought one. The new 2013 Audi R8 barely off the market. Its 4.2 liter V8 engine had 420 horses under the hood, okay not even under the hood he said as he remembered. The engine sat behind the passenger and driver seat, mid-ship Bobby called it. I loved the interior of this car, all black leather seats that were buttery soft. The black and silver dash and side panels were top of the line and made the high tech dash board look like a luxury space ship or something. There was more buttons on this dashboard than the control room at RangeMan. The things that I recognized were Bluetooth, GPS, the radio and CD player, that was about it. Oh and the temperature controls. But there were still dozens of additional buttons that I didn't recognize.

Like Rangers dozens of other vehicles I had no doubt that this one was outfitted the same way, no spare tire, but the compartment under the trunk help what was sure to be enough weapons to invade a small country. There was also the gun safe under his driver seat that probably held at least 2 guns. Not to mention the various knifes he had stowed around the vehicle.

Ranger has turned on the radio at some point during our trip and now soft jazz was coming out of the speakers. This was for my benefit as I never knew Ranger to come out of his 'zone'. I turned to him and said "Thank you." He didn't even turn to me he just nodded his head. I was comfortable with his silence. I turned back to the window and watched the road flash by at high speed. I felt my head roll back and I knew no more.

I woke to someone shaking me lightly. My brain instantly thought Joe, and I started to fight knowing that I would awake to the worst torture of my life, being forced to be his wife and the mother to his children. What would Ranger think, what would the Merry Men think, Lester, Bobby, Tank, Hal, Cal, Binkie, Ram and Vince and Hector. I would never be able to see them again. So I fought harder I swung my arms and twisted. 2 big arms came around me, and a voice registered in my ear, it was speaking Spanish. It was Ranger. I stopped fighting and held onto him as tight as I could.

"Babe your safe now, he won't ever hurt you again."

I knew in my heart that Ranger would protect me like no other man could. He would keep me safe. But for the first time in my life, I didn't feel at home in his arms, I was safe but not happy or at home. I put that thought to the back of my mind.

"Ranger, where are we?" I looked around and we were in the driveway to a very large house, an extremely nice very large house.

I looked back to Ranger and he rubbed the back of his neck, a movement I had seen him do only a few times. His nervous or embarrassed movement. "We are at Lester's house Babe."

Woah woah woah, my proverbial bachelor had a house? I always figured him for a penthouse pad type of guy. He must have meant a safehouse. But this time I couldn't care less about the fact that Ranger was locking me up in a safe house with a billion and one cameras and mics placed within the house and surrounding woods. This time I wanted it, Joe had snapped and he would do anything he could to try and get me back. Listening to Ranger and being in my guys care would help me.

Ranger sat back on his heels outside the Audi, bringing us eye to eye. "Babe, I knew you wouldn't want a safe house, so I brought you here. Lester designed it safer than any safe house I have and more comfortable to. Fewer cameras and more outside security measures." I knew every word he said would be true, all I could do was throw my arms around him. My throat was thick with emotion and I was fighting tears again. Ranger had finally listened to me, he wasn't locking me in a safe house where every guy at RangeMan could moniter my actions. No, instead he took me to a house where he knew I would be more comfortable and safe. Ranger had stood up by this time and held me in his arms, close to his chest. Even though I knew he didn't mean anything by it, I still didn't like it. I wanted Lester. I wanted the man that kept me safe when Ranger was away, the one that held me through the death of my hamster Rex and the one who knew my every food desire. That 6'4'' lanky frame that I seemed the fit into like a perfect puzzle piece, that sinewy muscled chest that would make any man jealous, the same chest I had fallen asleep on many times.

Rangers POV

Sitting at my dark mahogany desk, my fingers tapping away at my new laptop there was a rat-tat at the door. I sat back and crossed my thick arms across my even thicker chest. "Enter" my usual greeting short sweet and to the point, no sense wasting words on formalities. The door swung open revealing my cousin and infamous ladies man. Lester Santos. "Santos" again the one word told him all he needed to know. Since we served together in the ARMY and in the Rangers we hardly used words to understand each other. A trait Stephanie hated about us, she called it ESP but in reality it was all about reading people not about a supernatural trait. However, out of every man in my office, Santos spoke the most.

"We have a meeting in 10 minutes. Do you need the Bomber Report today or do you want it at the end of the week?"

Uggg that stupid report was going to be the death of me. "End of the week" the Bomber Report was a weekly report on Stephanie, how many cars she has had blown to bits, her skip count, fire bombs, anything out of the ordinary or on a need to know basis was in that report. I looked back to Lester, who had propped his feet up on the other end of the couch. I don't remember asking him to sit down, let alone saying 'oh hey Les go ahead and kick your feet up and stay awhile'. But alas he is my cousin and I let him get away with more than anyone else. I could tell he planned to say something just by the look on his face.

"You know cuz you really need to get your big fat head out of your super tight ass and talk to her. Every man in this office is in love with her but she only has eyes for you. Do you have any idea how much I would give so that she would look at me like that? I swear man, if you don't get off your ass I am gonna start moving in." I could feel the growl start to grow in my chest throughout his speech, my hands were fisted so hard my knuckles were white. By the time he had finished I was debating on what size box to choose so I could send him to Saudi Arabia or down to the damn jungles of Colombia. The middle of the Sahara might do just nicely.

I let my blank face slid off and release a look of pure confusion towards him. "I just don't know any more man. She doesn't act towards me like she used to. She acts like she doesn't want to be in my arms, and when I told her we were at your house she got this look of pure joy that I can't seem to put on her face anymore."

Emotions flew across my cousins face so fast I couldn't read them before he slammed his blank face in place and looked me in the eyes. "I don't know cuz, we have been spending time together but not like that. I kept her company when her rat died and when you have been off playing the war hero. But it has always been in the friendship category. All the guys have done the same. You really need to talk to her about this."

With that he got up and walked out my door, yelling over his shoulder "5 minutes conference room B!"


	2. Chapter 2

AN – Slightly shorter, mom yelling at me in the background. Will try to upload more over the holidays, and continue to do so after I get back to college. No BETA all the mistakes are mine.

Disclaimer – Everything you recognize belongs to the brilliant mind of Janet Evanovich

Acts of Valor

Previously: With that he got up and walked out my door, yelling over his shoulder "5 minutes conference room B!"

**LPOV **

I couldn't believe it, my mind was racing with possibilities, ones that I know I shouldn't foster/ those were thoughts that could get me into major trouble. I had been in love with my Beautiful since the day she walked through those elevator doors. I had been quiet about my fascination and obsession with her and never let her know my true feelings. I hid behind my previous playboy persona and let her think I had a different woman every night. That was most definitely not true. In all actuality I hadn't slept with anyone since I met Beautiful. All the other women never lived up to her. My little black book couldn't even put her out of my mind. Everywhere I went she was in my mind, Bobby was starting to notice, especially since he was not only my partner, but the man who patched me up after I got roughed up because I was thinking about Beautiful instead of paying attention.

He had asked me about it one night over beers at Shorty's and I shrugged him off.

_Flashback_

_ We were about three beers in when Bobby turned to me with a serious look on his face. _

_ "Dude you haven't been with a woman since god knows when, hell it might have been even before Bomber came home. What the hell is up with you, and if your done being a manwhore then can I have your Black Book?"_

_ He of course was referring to the book of names and number I kept in my desk. The book was full of women who were up for a one night stand. _

_ I just looked at him with a bored expression and mumbled some excuse about my mom and sisters catching on and me wanting to slow down for a while. He just rolled his eyes and went back to nursing his beer and flirting with our bartender. _

This news from Ranger was surprising, I had no idea what was going on with Beautiful. I had to turn my brain back the task at hand which is this god damn meeting. I hate team meetings, a waste of time if you ask me. Ranger already knows everything and the guys all talk to each other anyways. But orders are orders, even if you are one of the owners. These meeting were always like the Charlie brown teachers, the guy's mouths might be moving but all I am hearing is wah wah wah. When all of a sudden I got a hinky feeling; this is what my Beautiful calls her Spidey Sense. I got up to walk out of the meeting room, Ranger yelling "Santos, where the fuck do you think you're going!" all I had to do was point at the ceiling and take about five steps more when the alarm sounded. Red lights flashed and the sirens going off. When Ram's voice came over the speaker, "Bomber Alert, her car tracker went off line. 4567 W Baltic Ave" All the guys jumped out of their seats to follow me out the door, running to the stairwell and pounding down to our cars. Ranger jumped in my brand new Audi with me and we would beat the guys there by minutes. I even had the new PA system linked directly to my GPS, that way when the alarm went off I already had the GPS coordinates in my car.

I laid rubber and fishtailed out of the parking garage and took off like a bat out of hell following the GPS. When I got there, I jumped out of the car and took in the scene in front of me. Beautiful was sitting on the curb covered in ash and soot but my visual check revealed no obvious injuries. Her head was down and she was staring at the ground while Morelli, the dirt eating scum bag, towered over her yelling and screaming; throwing his arms about like a man gone insane. I caught a few lines of what he was yelling and trust me it wasn't good for Beautiful.

About that time he leaned down and jerked her up by her arm, I could tell from here it was going to bruise that rat bastard. I heard Bobby and Tank squeal to a stop and jump out of the car. I turned to Bobby "We got to get her out of his reach and fast, otherwise this is going to get way out of hand." With that Bobby and Tank started walking towards her and Morelli. I saw Beautiful's eyes search Ranger and me out and that pleading look was all it took and I leaned into the car.

"Ranger you got get her the fuck outta here, go to my house, it won't be traceable and no one will expect it. Here are the keys and codes; the GPS has it programmed under Beautiful." I took about five steps from the car and saw Beautiful sprinting towards us, she had gotten out of Joe's grip and now he was furious, but faced with the wall that was Tank and Bobby. I swooped Steph up and was immediately turned against; she had thought I was Joe. I talked quickly and quietly trying to get through to her and gave her a quick kiss on the forehead before sliding her into my Audi. I then stood up and watched as Ranger drove my girls away.

I turned back towards Morelli and let out the monster that had been threatening to burst out since I got the alarm. My face was a mask of pure hatred and a desire to kill. This was my monster; the one that made me so sought after as a military man and by the government for their search and destroy missions. The monster was what kept me safe and alive on those missions, but now he was out to protect what he thought of as his; Beautiful. He was focused on Morelli and this was not good. I tried to reign him in just a little bit, but it was not happening. Bobby saw it coming and pulled his emergency syringe out. It was full of his own personal mixture, one that he had made specifically for Rangeman because it was the only thing the he could knock us out with. Well shit! All I knew was blackness, and there was no more.

**RPOV  
**The alarms went off and Ram's voice came over the speaker "Bomber Alert" That was all I heard because my mind had shut down into the chant "Get Babe, save Babe, help Babe" I just raced after Les and jumped in his car. I knew that the Audi would put us there well ahead of anyone else that had actually listened to the rest of the alarm. After all Les had just hooked this thing to the PA somehow. I was barely buckled down when he floored it, laid rubber and fishtailed out of my garage complex. It was a fast paced two wheel corner trip that landed us at the scene right as everyone had reached her. Babe was sitting on the sidewalk about 500 feet from her latest POS car, which was now a smoldering hunk of twisted metal on the side of the street. Morelli was towering over her yelling and swinging his arms around trying to drive his point home. His famous Italian temper was on full view for anyone who cared to see it. I didn't bother getting out of the car since Les already had, but I almost did when Morelli jerked Babe up by her arm. I had my hand on the door handle when she searched me out in the crowd and sent a look that screamed save me. By then Santos had shoved his keys and codes in my hand and set the GPS for somewhere I didn't recognize. Once I realized that this was his house that he had set, Babe was sprinting away from Morelli and towards the Audi. Lester grabbed her and she tried to fight him, probably thought he was Morelli, by the time her got her quieted down he had her in the car seat and I was peeling away from the crime scene. Following the GPS towards Santos' place wasn't hard; it was keeping my anger in check. I was furious at Morelli, he had deliberately hurt Stephanie and he was going to pay. I had no doubt that my boys would take care of that, but how would be the question.

My mind was sorting through all the ways that Morelli could be hurt, and believe me it was a long list, when we pulled up the massive gates that lead to my cousin's house. The long driveway was paved and the front was covered in massive, no doubt bullet proof, windows. I pulled out the key card and slid it through followed quickly by the pass code Les had given me for the gate. I drove slowly down the driveway, the gate shutting quickly behind me. I pulled up out front, not knowing the pass to his garage and parked his baby. Looking over to the woman sound asleep in the passenger seat, I felt my anger melt away, she was safe.

I slid out of the car and over to her side opening the butterfly doors that Les had installed. I reached down to shake Steph and get her out of the car. She awoke with a start and started flinging her arms out catching me in the jaw before I had a chance to get her in my arms. That had actually hurt; I might have a light bruise there tomorrow. Damn it all to hell. Speaking quick Spanish in her ear to help her realize it was me. She calmed down enough to push on my chest and open her eyes. She was still pushing on my chest so I backed up and let her get a view of her surroundings. Her eyes widened considerably when she saw the massive house in front of her. I knew her question before she even asked it "Ranger, where are we?"

I explained that we were at Lester's house, less inside cameras, better security. I knew she would appreciate that, but what I didn't expect was the look of pure joy and safety that crossed her sooty features. I felt a pang in my heart when I realized that this was not caused by me. But by the fact that this was Lester's place. I knew then that this was the end, she was no longer mine. I had to back off, this was over and I was no longer an option for her. I had blown my chance when I sent her back to Morelli. That was when this damn thing started, she had slowly gotten less comfortable with me, stopped coming to my apartment and refused to let me kiss her behind the bonds office. She was becoming independent I had thought; no she had just become dependent on someone else. That someone else was my cousin.

That stung like a bitch, to know that she didn't want me anymore. I don't even know if she knows she loves my cousin because she sure doesn't show it. She is just aware that I no longer make her feel the way I used to. That much I can see. The way she automatically settled into Lester's arms when it took me minutes to calm her down. How she continued to push on my chest even after she realized it was me. Even the way she refused to be held by me. She jerked her hand out of mine, with what I assume she thought was casual grace. She had pretended to be looking at the foyer, but I knew the truth and it stung, a lot.


End file.
